Get over it, Republicans

The Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers has exposed a vein of frustration among conservative loyalists. Criticism by some has gone beyond commentary to, what I called here on October 4, “conservative extremism.” By that, I mean acting outside the credo of sane, restrained choices upon which conservatism is based, and upon which successful power politics is ultimately based in a democracy.

Especially when long denied power, following a long, hard march to power, there is a natural tendency to act out retribution and to insist on unilateral measures of purist faith. That tendency, as deserved as any particular component may be, serves to alienate and divide activists from the broader base of support necessary for governing. We’re among the first to criticize those on the left, or those in emergent countries, who so act. We must, also, restrain our own such urges.

William Galston and Elaine Kamarack advised Bill Clinton on his “triangulation” strategy of pitching a broad tent across the middle. The facile thinness of its fabric and its successes tremendously frustrated conservatives. Galston and Kamarack have again spoken up. In today’s Washington Post, “Report Warns Democrats Not To Tilt Too Far Left,” they reflect that Democrats must “admit that they cannot grow themselves out of their electoral dilemmas.”

Democrats have pandered to narrow ideological interest groups and winked at a defeatist foreign policy theme among its activists, leaving the party with an electoral minority. Republican firmness in foreign policy coupled with centrist outreach to Hispanics, overtaxed working families, and to improve education and healthcare policies has formed a strong majority coalition.

The face of the Republican Party is of a sane center-right coalition. The face of the Democrat Party is of harpies without policies.

Republicans really need to seriously consider whether the reaction by some stalwarts regarding the Supreme Court nomination has any chance of succeeding at either derailing it or of strengthening the party for its many other interests. I believe not. It is immature venting. It is unnecessarily divisive. It is not successful politics. It is flowering the path to returning to a minority. It is taking the baiting from extremist Democrats to flail back, to rub their noses in their negativist, obstructionist drivel. In taking the bait, it has made Republicans seem the negative obstructionist extremists. As the Democrats have unbalanced their apple cart to the left, Republicans may topple their apple cart to the right.

Ms. Miers may not be every conservative activist’s dream candidate, but there is every reason to believe that she will add to the conservative leanings of the Court, and that if the Democrats had power the alternatives would be far worse. Politics is not a one-time cause or battle. It is the long term cobbling of a strong coalition, that to be lasting must eschew extremism and embrace sane choices that, although not perfect, are better than the realistic alternatives or nothing. Better that McCain and other Senators had not divided the Republican majority in the Senate, leaving President Bush in a weaker position, but a unified Democrat Party may well have succeeded in continuing to obstruct Appeals and Supreme Court nominees. President Bush has shown himself adept at playing the hand he’s dealt. That is the reality here. That may not be as energizing as some activists or purists may hope, it may not satisfy the relish for bloody battle by some, it may not be a unilateral power play in every case, but it is how the political war is won over time, and over a host of issues.

Perhaps, in the future, if Republicans stay sane and united, a stronger Senate majority may emerge, and even better choices. Stomping feet and temper tantrums won’t get us there. Get over it, and get on with it, fellow Republicans.